Deputy County Manager Bill Beasley Enjoys Sports Officiating

Bill Beasley, Polk's deputy county manager, is responsible for keeping tabs on much of the work that occurs in the sprawling network of county facilities that cover the 2,000-square-mile area.

By TOM PALMERTHE LEDGER

BARTOW | When issues come up in Polk County about road maintenance, garbage collection or the condition of a county park, Bill Beasley's involved somewhere in the background.Beasley, Polk's deputy county manager, is responsible for keeping tabs on much of the work that occurs in the sprawling network of county facilities that cover the 2,000-square-mile area from the Green Swamp to the Kissimmee River."I do a lot of the heavy lifting," Beasley said, explaining he oversees about two-thirds of the county's 1,900 employees.

VIRGINIA NATIVEWilliam David Beasley was born Jan. 6, 1956, in Norfolk, Va. to David and Rita Beasley.He grew up in a family that included six brothers and sisters and learned early he had a knack for building things.That led to enrolling in Penn State's engineering program — his Georgia-born father was hoping he'd pick Georgia Tech — to get a degree in civil engineering. He later received a master's degree in engineering administration from George Washington University.He's a registered engineer in Virginia and North Carolina and said he plans to take the Florida exam.When he finished college, he came home to work for the Department of the Navy in Norfolk, but his work often took him far afield.He worked on projects in places as diverse as Iceland and the Azores islands off Africa's Atlantic coast.The biggest project in which he was involved was an air defense installation in Iceland. Posters illustrating the project line his office wall.Beasley said the project involved designing and building an access road up a mountainside as well as overseeing the construction of what was then a classified radar site intended to spot Russian bombers coming over the North Pole toward the United States.Today, it's used to guide commercial airliners, he said.But he found large projects like that exciting, and other less spectacular projects were memorable, he said."The most rewarding project I ever worked on was a domestic violence shelter in North Carolina," he said, saying he learned a lot in the planning about why projects like this are important and necessary.Beasley spent 16 years as public works director and assistant city manager in Gaston County, N.C., which is in the Charlotte metro area.

COMING TO POLKAfter 16 years in an increasingly urbanizing section of North Carolina, Beasley said he was ready for a change and when the Polk County opening was advertised, he applied."I've never looked back; it was a good fit for me," he said, adding that he saw an opportunity here to have an effect on how Polk County progressed.He acknowledged that he had some adjusting to do here.Polk County is about six times larger than Gaston County, which forced Beasley to plan his trips differently.Beasley was hired in 2006 to succeed Deputy County Manager Jim Roden Jr., who was retiring.County Manager Jim Freeman, who was then serving as the other deputy county manager, said Beasley scored well with the three committees set up to select a replacement."He was the consensus hire from all three," Freeman said. "He came across as a positive, can-do, problem-solver.''Shortly after Beasley was hired he was temporarily assigned to take over the Polk County Utilities Department, and later, became the sole deputy county manager after a budget-cutting reorganization eliminated one of the positions after Freeman was promoted to county manager.Freeman said Beasley has been particularly effective in dealing with people."He's every good at handling constituent issues," Freeman said.County Commissioner Todd Dantzler, who worked with Beasley to deal with some community needs last year in Loughman, agreed."He was very personable and worked to meet the community's needs and stayed on top of it," Dantzler said.

SPORTS OFFICIALSo what does a deputy county manager do to relax after spending the week overseeing a bunch of county depart-ments?Part of the time he oversees prep football and basketball games.Beasley said he started officiating games when he was in North Carolina at the suggestion of some friends.He's been doing it here for the past six years."I enjoy the camaraderie and it keeps me engaged," he said.Beasley is president of the Lake Region Basketball Officials Association and on the board of the Lake Region Football Officials Association. The association covers Polk, Highlands and parts of Lake counties. "He's a very, very good official. He's a great guy and he's always a pleasure to work with," said Steve Stokes, who serves with Beasley in the association.Beasley acknowledges that officiating, which he has to sandwich in among his county job commitments, can be challenging at times."If you're doing this, though, you better have tough skin," he said. "You can't take it personally."Beasley jokes about the challenges of keeping up with the players as they stay the same age and he doesn't."I'm going to do it as long as I can," he said.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. Read his blog on the environment at environment.blogs.theledger.com and his blog on county government at county.blogs.theledger.com. Follow on Twitter @LedgerTom. ]

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